I wondered what you would say on this occasion. I find that I am in agreement with you. I wouldn’t celebrate killing anyone, nor will I celebrate anyone’s death. That said, I won’t miss the old bastard and I’m glad that a soldier finally killed him like the rabid dog he was. Except for a certain member of the Clinton cabinet, we’d have gotten him long before 9/11. Its about time.

OBL did what he did for his own reasons. Anyone who does this pays the price eventually, and should be glad to do it. He should have surrendered years ago if he truly believed his cause was just. A trial might have gotten him more press, though death at the end of a rope is probably worse than being shot dead.

In a few hundred years, he will be on the scrap heap of forgotten despots alongside Hitler, Stalin, and Hussein.

Only regrets I have about the mission’s execution is the wounding of his wife Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah. Collateral damage, I suppose, but it’s sad when a young woman takes a bullet for a villain.

Dear Mona,

The human race has failed miserably and continues to do so. When the Extremists celebrated the murder of thousands on 9/11 they were looked at as animals and terrorists. Today you see America celebrating death just the same but now it is OK.

Never did I imagine I would live to see humanity decompensate to this level. To celebrate another’s death.

I feel avenged and relieved at OBL’s death but I will not rejoice in it. No one should be happy that anyone is dead…

This is a sad time for us humans, the world might as well just end on 2012 as far as I am concerned and as they keep predicting, cause if it does not I am sure the hate we hold for each other will eradicate the human race once and for all.

Thats very patriotic Reporter Lara Logan celebrated the arab spring with your brothers in egypt when she was raped and tore apart. Sad you were not around to join the celebrations.Also a nice video if u remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WptpG_yVUI

Courageous, as usual, Ms. Eltahawy.

There IS something sinister and ominous about packs of frats and sorors with beer in one hand and the American flag in the other that somehow reminds us of the pictures of lynch mobs leering at the strange fruit hanging in the background.

Welcome to America, Fellow Citizen.

Iman said, “When the Extremists celebrated the murder of thousands on 9/11 they were looked at as animals and terrorists.” However, there is a big difference between waving flags in front of the White House and passing out candy in Gaza on 9/11. On 9/11 they were celebrating terror! Why shouldn’t they be seen as terrorists. The people in front of the White House were celebrating justice. If you fail to draw the distinction then you — not the human race — have failed miserably.

I agree with you, Iman, but I am optimistic that the views of the peaceful humanitarians will eventually drown out the sad angry and vengeful feelings of our still evolving family members.

Mona, thank you very much for these thoughtful comments. I have been wrestling with my own mixed feelings about all the celebrations over the death of a man and whether it wouldn’t be better for us to solemnly commemorate the moment and get back to the real work at hand, which, in my view, is finding a way to unite citizens and leaders alike across the globe in respect for human life and pursuit of those things that bring us closer together rather than divide us.

Teens have to blow off steam – sports often gives them and oppostunity, but just about anything will do: the more agressive it is the better.

It is unfortunate that some people never progressive beyond that. Looks at the English soccor yabos – google about the SF Gaints fan that was hospitalized at a Dodgers game.

As Christ observed about the poor, these will always be with us (and always have). Don’t get too unset about it – use it, as you have, to comment on unthinking chauvinism and civility.

Ms. Eltahawy,
I am a Soldier in the United States Army Reserve. I love my Country, the U.S. Constitution and the Freedoms my Country and its Constitution provide.
Let me first say that I agree, more respect should have been shown at Ground Zero. However, I understand the difference between celebrating the deaths of innocent men, women and children (something widely reported happening in the Middle East following the 9/11 tragedy) and celebrating the death of a mass murderer/tyrant/ass hole/etc.
Since I wasn’t at Ground Zero that night, I can’t tell you what inspired the party atmosphere there but, this is America and everyone has the right to express themselves in the manner of their choosing…even if it means making an ass of yourself. Additionally, as an American you not only have the right to be offended, you have the right to say so! Fuck the Haters who have criticized you for it. Roseanne Barr once said. “Critics don’t become critics because it’s what they were born to do. They do it because they are talentless hacks who have nothing better to do.” Whether I agree you or not, I will ALWAYS support your right to speak your mind.
I know a little something about having unpopular opinions. My views of bin Laden and the Global War on Terror haven’t changed since the bastard’s death was announced. In terms of the U.S.A. vs bin Laden, the score is roughly:
bin Laden 9,000
U.S.A. 1
Perhaps I’ve over-thought it but it seems to me, we won the final battle against bin Laden but we lost the war on September 11th, 2001. Bin Laden’s goals were clear: Bankrupt America & Kill Americans. We lost the minute G. W. Bush got suckered into putting American Service Members in bin Laden’s back yard. Bush undeniably “screwed the pooch.” Then, he fucked up even worse when he failed to send reinforcements to Afghanistan. He let Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld distract him with Iraq. He didn’t have reinforcements to send to Afghanistan because he wanted to send them there. We lost bin Laden at Tora Bora in December 2001. There was no al Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion. Bin Laden’s escape at Tora Bora guaranteed targets for al Qaeda (Bush practically put us right in their laps) for another 9 years at great financial, emotional and physical cost to our Country. After 10 years of war and one bad decision after another by Bush, our economy is STILL circling the drain.
3,000 Americans Killed on 9/11
+ 6,000 American Service Members between Iraq and Afghanistan
9,000 to 1 (bin Laden) there is really no way to even the score…it’s not like we can kill him again
I don’t have the heart to delve into the climbing suicide rate among American Service Members that has accompanied TBI and PTS or all the “Accidental Overdoses” from multiple medications to deal with the physical and mental traumas of multiple deployments. These numbers are not factored into the 6,000 American Military deaths above but they can’t go completely without mention. I can’t forget them. The numbers above also don’t take into account the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S.S. Cole, or the thousands of Muslims killed by bin Laden before 9/11 or the “collateral damage” victims in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began. Or the thousands who continue to suffer in places like Somalia because a new generation of oppressors has taken a page out of the bin Laden/Taliban playbook.
With Respect,
The Warrior Citizen (a.k.a. Slic Nic 5150)

Dear Ms. Eltahawy,

I have read your article in The Guardian and I was somewhat
surprised by its subtitle:”…I abhor the frat boy reaction. We should be celebrating the Arab spring, not this”. I fully agree with the first sentence and I thought this is sufficient ground to disagree with the second. So, while I admired the article for its articulate argumentation, I feel it is slightly deficient in its logic.

I cannot agree more that it is with a kind of humility and even sadness that one should greet such events. In my mother tongue (Romanian) the words for avenge/revenge/vengeance are expressed as “making-again-good”, like correcting a wrong deed or putting things back in order. If there is a sense of triumph in this, it should come with the feeling that we are back to square one, but only poorer with what we had to pay: resentments, hate, bloodshed. Of the famous “two impostors”, triumph is obviously the subtlest, the more difficult to
resist, the more intoxicating. But in this respect revolutions are no better. Look at the Libyans rejoicing at the death of Gaddafi’s SON. Is this not one of the faces of the Arab spring?

I went through a revolution myself (December ’89) and I saw its euphoria and its “Ole! Ole!”. I have followed or read about others, and I still have to see at least ONE which is met by the sense of gravity that matches the enormity of the facts. I still long to see at least one victory met with bitter tears. Celebrations are frivolously inappropriate.

As upsetting it was to many & myself to see the celebrations of OBL’s death ~ I have heard some 20 somethings being interviewed about their feelings. These interviews seem to have a tread of a release from a fear that had been hanging in their minds since the time when they were 10yr or so. In some ways I can understand how a youth might hold this fear & place a figure such as OBL as the symbol.
This was also seen in Egypt as the 20 somethings realized that their ~ Lord Voltamire ~ was no longer lurking in the darkness. With all of this symbology of archetypes of evil for the 20 somethings being set free ~ hopefully this time of history will be noted as the beginning of a time of Freedom that will be with us on Earth for many years.

My comment is awaiting moderation since the day before yesterday. Looks like the moderator is Godot.

You probably remember Bill Liao sharing on dignity at last years European Summit for Global Transformation (http://www.europeansummit.org).
Ever since that talk I use a simple measuring stick: “Does dignity go up or down?”
As you pointed out, it went down with these people cheering at Ground Zero.